The Serpent and the Lioness
by sOlAr OrBiT
Summary: Hey everyone! First one-shot, don't flame they are NOT welcome and said flamers will be fed to the dragon that lives in my attic . Dramione pairing. "Is this seat taken?" Draco asked pointing at the chair next to Hermione. She kept her eyes on her paper and muttered "I wish." Please r&r. : Disclaimer, I own nothing.


Floating candles hung about the expanse of the Great Hall throwing light to every corner of the room. The ceiling, that was bewitched to appear as the sky was outside, exploded with stars, almost outshining the moon visible hanging just above Albus Dumbledore the headmaster of the school. The remainder of the teachers of Hogwarts sat perched in their high-backed chairs; eagerly awaiting which students they would receive into their respective houses. The new students awaiting their turn with the sorting hat, stood in a mass of atleast fifty or more tiny faces swiveling constantly around the room taking in every minute detail of their surroundings. Half of them had already been placed into one of the four houses, including a small pale skinned; blue eyed boy slouched down in his seat at the Slytherin table. He pushed his blonde hair back from his forehead and breathed heavily in defeat. He was the only first year that had not been atall fascinated with anything inside the school except one small bouncy, bushy-haired brunette, currently seated across the room at the Gryffindor table. She was excitedly talking to one of the Weasleys and a small messy-haired boy whom he assumed was Harry Potter. For all his efforts on attempting to convince himself that she was not good enough for him (she had after all been placed in Gryffindor), he found himself unable to take his eyes off of her.

~. *. ~

Years had passed since then, and almost nothing had changed. Draco Malfoy sat in that same seat he had been in the first time he had come to Hogwarts, but this time two very large and very unintelligent boys flanked him on both sides. "Crabbe, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you, no matter how long you stare at the bloody plate, the food isn't going to show up until after the first years are sorted."

Pansy Parkinson, a girl whom Draco had befriended, snorted "and how many times, Draco, do we have to tell _you, _no matter how long you stare at Granger, she isn't going to show up either." Draco's face burned red and he pulled his eyes away from the Gryffindor table to glare at Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle snickered.

"You think I don't know that?" Draco hissed, remembering a few years back when Hermione had punched him in the face before the hippogriff, Buckbeak's execution. He winced slightly, gingerly touching his nose where she had broken it. The hospital wing's nurse had mended it, but the memory still stung. "Besides," he started, tugging at the hem of his shirtsleeves, "she's a mudblood. It's repulsive that you even suggest I was looking at _her_." Crabbe looked sideways at Draco and rolled his eyes.

"Oh come of it Draco, we all know you fancy her." Draco opened his mouth in protest, but Pansy held up a hand for him to stay quiet. Dumbledore had just finished his speech regarding the school's protocol, which meant the tables were beginning to fill themselves with food. Also meaning Crabbe and Goyle had become unresponsive.

Having lost his appetite, Draco slid away from the table. "I'm going to bed." He grumbled. The boys grunted in acknowledgement and Draco swiftly wove his way through the groups of people towards the doors of the Great Hall. He turned to look over his shoulder at the Gryffindors one last time, and found Hermione Granger's eyes on him. Draco's breath caught in his chest as it tightened, and he dropped his wand. He quickly bent down to pick it up and turned back to the doors of the Great Hall and broke into a run towards the dungeons, away from everyone, to the safety of his bed and a good night's sleep.

Morning came fast, but Draco always seemed to rise when the sun did, so, even though light didn't reach down to the Slytherin common room (not that there were any windows for it to come through), and even though he was still very tired, he woke up. Draco swung his legs over the edge of his bed and let his feet get used to the cold stone floor, he pulled on his clothes and slid his arms through the sleeves of his cloak and ran his fingers through his hair. It was the first day of term and it would begin with potions. "_No,_" he thought shaking his head. "_It would begin with Granger_." It was almost tradition that Gryffindor and Slytherin house shared potions class, so it was also almost tradition to stare across the room at Hermione the entire class period. Draco still at a loss for an appetite, decided against venturing to the Great Hall for breakfast with everyone else, so he explored the chambers as he usually did. Taking the least familiar places first.

The sixth floor of the castle was quiet and spacey, the ceilings climbed upwards into a point at the top, rounding out closer to the floor, making the area seem larger than it was. Windows stretched with the walls, from the ground high up into the ceiling, candles moved through the hallways floating along the edges of the halls at eye level giving the corridors even more light. Portraits were scarce in this part of the castle, so Draco had time to wander in his thoughts without fear of distraction. He was puzzling over how he was going to muddle his way through defense against the dark arts class, when he thought he had heard muffled crying from around the corner. "Muffliato." He whispered pointing his wand towards whoever it was, though it did sound to him quite like a girl, so they wouldn't hear him passing through. Draco peered around the corner, carefully hiding behind one of the stone pillars that lined the entrance to the next corridor. He looked down, and saw someone crying with their face pressed into their robes on the opposite side of the pillar at his feet. She had her back to him, but the waves of brown hair that fell down her back were too familiar to him to not recognize her.

Without hesitation Draco pushed himself out, and away from the pillar to stand right in front of the girl. "Your suppose to be eating breakfast, Granger." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Go away Malfoy or I swear I'll break your nose again." She hissed between sobs. Hermione wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and looked up at Draco dangerously. Draco looked around to make sure no one was coming before kneeling down in front of Hermione.

"What's wrong?" he said, using the sleeve of his robe to wipe away a tear she had missed on her cheek. He tilted his head to the side in curiosity, waiting for an answer.

"It- it's none of your business." She stammered, then added, "Why do you even care anyway? And stop touching me." Hermione pushed at Draco's arm and looked down at the floor.

He pulled back from her. "_Hermione_. What's wrong." He said a little forcefully this time. It was the first time he had ever talked to her using her first name. It sounded different to him, almost nice. She looked up at him shock written across her face.

"What did you just call me?" she whispered in a barely audible voice. It was almost impossible for Draco to be able to tell if Hermione was angry, surprised, happy, or some odd mixture of all three.

So, he settled for a gentle smile. "What? That's your name isn't it?" She narrowed her eyes and studied his face. "Hermione…?" he said nervously, reading himself to block his face if she decided to punch him again.

"That's it." She announced. "I'm taking you to the hospital wing. You obviously have some sort of concussion. That's the only logical explanation."

"Well… what if I'm not being logical at the moment?" Draco whispered, leaning closer to her. Hermione humphed and looked back down at the floor, but didn't answer him. Draco put his hand up to her face and tilted it back up towards him. "Please tell me what's wrong. Please?" he said softly.

"Fine. But only if you stop _touching_ me." Hermione grumbled, pulling her face away from his hand again.

"Ok, I promise." He said earnestly, waiting for her response.

She sighed and leaned back onto the pillar. "Not that it's any of your business, but Harry was mad at Ron and I for not being able to talk to him over the summer, so he was yelling at us. He said all of these horrible things to me. I started crying, and I guess because he was mad Ron yelled at me to stop acting like a stupid girl. I came up here after that." She started crying again and buried her face in her hands. "They didn't mean it, I know its just from all the stress." She sobbed, trying to defend her friends.

Draco clenched his hands into fists. "Potter and Weasley, I should have known. I swear they'll pay for this." He growled, "When I get my hands on those two, I'll… " He paused and began thinking of what he would do to the both of them, when he noticed Hermione had stopped crying and was looking at him with curiosity.

"Malfoy?" she said in disbelief. This was an entirely new side to him that confused and startled Hermione, in neither a good or a bad way. He looked back at her and his eyes softened.

"I mean of all the people they could have done this to, why you? You're smart, beautiful, and they're suppose to be your frie—." He tried to say but was cut short by Hermione grabbing the front of his robes and pulling him towards her. "Hermi—?" Draco began in surprise but was again prevented from finishing, as Hermione pressed her mouth firmly to his. His eyes widened in shock, but after a moment he closed them and kissed back. He leaned closer; he finally had her after all those years. "_Funny, all I had to do was say her name the right way," _he thought, smiling to himself. Hermione pulled at his robes harder, trying to get closer. Draco was overwhelmed with the sudden need for her. He tugged at her bottom lip with his teeth, silently asking permission for more.

"No." Hermione said, pushing him away from her once again. "I … I don't know what came over me." She said, quickly grabbing her books and pushing herself off the floor. "I have to go." She said backing away from him towards the staircase.

"Wait!" Draco said standing and moving forward in an effort to follow her. Hermione raised her wand at his face.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes again. Draco froze and put his hands up in surrender.

"Please don't push me away Hermione." he said and took a step towards her. Sparks flashed from her wand and Draco was thrown backward, sliding across the floor. He groaned looked up to see Hermione disappear around the corner of the staircase.

The pain from hitting his head on the stone floor had carried through breakfast and was still rattling through his ears when he reached the door to the potions classroom. Everyone was gathered outside waiting for admittance to enter the room.

"Yoo-hoo! Draco over here!" called Pansy from across the sea of fifth years; she sat on a bench closest to the door and motioned for Draco to join her. She was waving incessantly, but he had other things to deal with. He searched the crowd looking for a specific group of Gryffindors. The hallway in which everyone was narrow and dim, making it difficult to see clearly in either direction. The roof was low and the walls from being so far down within the castle were damp, so most of the students gathered towards the center of the room, except for a small group of Gryffindors crammed into a corner just to the right of where he was standing. They were talking except for the girl who stood farthest from him looking nervously towards the door to the potions room. He pushed through a group of Hufflepuffs towards Hermione and her friends.

"Hey! Potter!" Draco called out to the boy with his back to him. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter turned to face him.

"Shove off Malfoy." Ron said reaching for his wand beneath his robes.

"Oh please, Weasley. Put it away before you end up jinxing yourself again." Draco said rolling his eyes

"What do you want?" Harry said narrowing his eyes and taking a step closer to Draco. Hermione, still cowering in the corner looked between the three boys, maintaining the look of nervousness she had when Draco had walked over.

"Calm down Potter. Wouldn't want to make a scene would we? Half the school already thinks you're insane. Wouldn't want to make it any worse would you?" Draco sneered. Harry looked menacingly at Draco and pulled out his wand.

"Watch it, Malfoy. Mummy wouldn't like it if that pretty little face of yours got ruined." Harry taunted waving his wand dangerously close to Draco's face. Ron raised his wand again also pointing it at Draco.

"Harry, Ron, remember what you told me? He isn't worth it. Just ignore him." Hermione mumbled looking down at her feet.

"I suppose she's right." Ron said. They lowered their wands, but continued to glare at Draco. Taking advantage of their wands not being directed at him, Draco punched Harry square in the face breaking his glasses in half.

"Bloody hell!" Harry shouted falling to his knees; Draco kicked Harry in the stomach causing him to fall backward. Ron lunged at Draco, but missed by a few inches, and ended up tripping over Draco's outstretched leg. Draco grabbed the back of Ron's cloak and kneed him in the face and slammed him into the wall. Ron moaned and slumped down onto the floor. Hermione stared wide-eyed at Draco; he looked back at her and grinned triumphantly.

"Always wanted to do that." He said. "Oh, and I told you so." Draco turned and walked back through the crowd of people, aware that everyone's eyes were either on him or Harry and Ron both still on the floor. Draco slid into the seat next to Pansy; he looked over at her and saw she was watching him in confusion.

"What was that all about? Snape is going to kill you." She whispered scanning the crowd to make sure no one was listening in. Draco shrugged and leaned casually back against the wall.

The door to the potions room swung inward and Professor Snape slid into the hall. He scanned the group of students he was expected to teach with disapproving eyes and sighed irritably. "Potter, Weasley, not that I am even slightly interested but I feel I must ask for the reason why the both of you seem to feel the need to lie about the floor?"

Draco watched Harry drag his face away from the flagstones to look up at Professor Snape menacingly. "It was Malfoy. He did it." Harry hissed angrily, attempting to use his cloak to keep his nose from bleeding profusely. Ron groaned and tried to mumble what slightly resembled some sort of an agreement before falling silent and sagging back onto the floor.

Snape casually looked about the small space, making it clear that he was in no hurry to attend to the situation. "All of you inside" he said. As the group thinned, Snape's black eyes rested on Draco lazily leaning against the wall. "Mr. Malfoy, is this true?" he asked sounding bored rather than accusatory or concerned.

Draco looked taken aback, "No sir, you see; I'm all the way over here. It couldn't have been _Me_." he answered with the most innocent tone he could. Harry glared at Draco through the lenses of his broken glasses.

"I see." Snape muttered turning back to Harry and Ron. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for lying, and another fifty for framing an innocent student. I trust the both of you can maneuver your way to the Hospital Wing. Miss Granger will bring you your homework after class, turn it into me tomorrow. No exceptions." He said, pointing a finger towards the stairs leading away from the dungeons. Harry and Ron pulled themselves up mumbling curses at both Snape and Draco before slinking away down the hall using the walls to support themselves. Snape looked down at Draco still lounging on the bench next to him. "I know it was you." He hissed quietly turning back into the classroom. Draco stood up looking guiltily at the floor. "I'm impressed." He added before going inside.

"Is this seat taken?" Draco asked pointing at the chair next to Hermione. She kept her eyes on her paper and muttered "_I wish_." Draco laughed and slid next to her. Hermione kept her head down and moved her chair as far away from him as she could and sat on the edge of the seat farthest from him. Draco smiled and rolled his eyes. "I can tell we're off to a great start." He said before leaning over towards her and whispering "_Partner._" Hermione froze and slowly shoved her face closer to her sheet of paper as her cheeks began to turn bright red. Draco smiled and relaxed back into his seat and waited for Professor Snape to begin the lesson.

About half way through the introductory class, Snape announced that each student would pair up with the person next to them as partners for the year. He also assigned the class to start off the year properly, and get to know the person who would be your partner while making a complex sleeping draft, due at the end of class.

"So…" Draco said taking his copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ and a few ingredients out of his bag.

Hermione looked at him flatly. "Don't talk. Just be quiet and don't touch _anything_." Draco stood behind Hermione and stared at her curiously while she busied herself with crushing leaves with a mortar and dumping them into the cauldron in front of her.

"It's easier if you crush all of them in your hand." He said softly over her shoulder. She looked back at him in confusion midway through attempting to break up the last few leaves. "Here. Like this." He said reaching over her shoulder to grab a few of the leaves. Hermione held out her hand and he sat them in her palm. He rested his head on her shoulder and held her hand in his, she looked into Draco's eyes and turned pink. He winked and squeezed her hand gently. "Now let go." He whispered, releasing her hand slowly. She let her hand open and watched small pieces of leaves fall down into the cauldron to rest on the bottom.

"That _is_ easier…" she mumbled looking at Draco, who's head was still resting on her shoulder. Her gaze turned hard and she shoved him off. "But the book says specifically to crush with a _mortar_. It's probably ruined now." She said angrily turning away from him and back to her book.

"I don't get it. One minute you're staring at me and _kissing me_, and the next you're blasting me onto the floor and yelling at me for trying to help you." He said pulling Hermione around to face him, holding her shoulders lightly but just enough for her to stay looking at him. "I was nice, more than nice. I even beat up Potter and Weasley. Not for me, it was for you, because they had hurt _you_. Your welcome for that by the way." He dropped his arms and let go of Hermione. "I care about you. I have since I met you. But I give up. You and Weasley can be partners when he comes in tomorrow. I know you fancy him anyway." He growled and grabbed his bag off the desk. He stormed out of the room slamming the classroom door behind him and kept going all the way up the stairs, leaving Hermione still calling after him.

Draco threw his things down and looked out over the edge of the railing of the astronomy tower. He slumped down onto the floor with his back against the wall and buried his face in his hands. A single tear slid down Draco's face and fell onto the floor beside him. He wasn't sad, or angry. He just felt empty, almost hollow inside. He lifted his head to look at the sky. Storm clouds had rolled over the castle and hidden the sun behind them, darkening the sky as well as Draco's mood. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, and fell asleep.

When Draco opened his eyes, the sky had become a deep midnight blue, and stars had begun to appear in the night sky. "_You have_ got _to be joking_," he thought remembering all the classes he had missed and all the work he would have to get Zabini to make up for him, as well as excuses he would need for missing the first day.

"Nice night."

Draco narrowed his eyes and searched the room, he could have sworn he had been alone, but someone had clearly spoken to him. A lot of time had passed since he had disappeared into the tower, so he figured it could have been anyone. Draco took his wand from his pocket and whispered "Lumous." The end of his wand lit up and Draco saw someone on the other end of the room leaning on the railing facing away from him. She turned and the tip of her wand glowed as well, illuminating the features of her face. Her soft brown eyes and similarly colored wavy brown hair.

"Hi." Hermione said walking closer to where Draco sat on the floor. She sat down next to him and dropped her wand on the floor in front of her. Draco turned his head to face the opposite wall. "I'm sorry." Hermione said quietly, "For two reasons. One, Because I lied to you. Ron and Harry were mad because they knew I liked you. They were yelling at me, but not because of anything to do with not writing to Harry over the summer."

Draco turned back to her and looked at Hermione in disbelief, "What?"

"You heard me. Second, I'm sorry because I treated you so horribly. I thought we were supposed to hate each other, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Please… please forgive me."

Draco sat silently still looking at Hermione as though she had grown an extra head. "What?" he asked again.

"Oh for goodness sake, I like you Draco. More than like you, and I'm apologizing for being stupid about it."

Draco silently sat for a moment taking in everything Hermione had just told him. He stood and held out a hand for her, she took it and he pulled her up to stand directly in front of him. "Pansy wasn't too happy about what you said during potions," Hermione said trying to contain a smile. Draco rolled his eyes and put a hand at the small of Hermione's back, pulling her against him.

"The hell with Pansy. I never liked her anyway." He laughed before leaning down and kissing Hermione. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair. Draco slid both arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Hermione tugged at Draco's bottom lip and he shivered involuntarily, he felt her smile and she pulled him closer, wrapping her legs around his waist. Their kisses became rougher and more frantic, trying to get closer, "I love you." Draco whispered sliding back onto the floor, putting Hermione on his lap.

She smiled, "I love you too."

"And _I_ would _love_ to know what's going on up here." Draco and Hermione looked up to find Pansy Parkinson, arms crossed, glaring down at them. Hermione shrank into Draco's robes, slightly embarrassed about the sudden interruption. "I followed that _thing _up here and _this_ is what I find? I thought we had something Draco."

Draco looked back at Pansy blankly "If you thought there was something going on between us, then obviously you're completely mental. Oh and that thing has a _name_, and if you're going to refer to her I suggest you use it." Pansy stared open-mouthed at Draco as though he had slapped her across the face. "And as to the question of what's going on, I had thought that was plainly obvious. But for the record, I was kissing her, and if you don't mind I believe you interrupted us."

Pansy gaped at Draco and Hermione; she stood silently with her lips pursed tightly into a thin line. Draco raised an eyebrow and waved his hand as a dismissal for Pansy to leave. She humphed angrily turning on her heal, and stomped back down the staircase.

Draco turned back to Hermione, he looked down to see her peering up at him, face half buried in his robes. "Oh come off it, she isn't that scary." He laughed tilting her chin up towards him. She giggled and he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers, "Now, where were we?"

**THE END**


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